Honduras defends its democracy

Thank you to all the visitors, commenters, and bloggers linking to my coverage of yesterday’s events in Honduras.

More background information on the events prior to Zelaya’s removal from office:
Here is more information on Mel Zelaya’s move:

Zelaya couldn’t get the ballots printed in Honduras since the referendum had been pronounced illegal by the country’s Supreme Court AND the electoral board. Therefore, the government couldn’t print them. No private printer was willing to break the law, either. So Zelaya had the ballots printed in Venezuela and flown in.

The Supreme Court instructed the military (who would be the ones doing the job) NOT to distribute the ballots to the polling stations.

led thousands of supporters to recover the material from an air force warehouse before it could be confiscated.

His supporters broke into the military installation where the ballots were kept.

Zelaya’s supporters started distributing the ballots at 15,000 voting stations across the country. This act placed him in outright defiance of the law, the Constitution, and the Supreme Court.

When the armed forces refused to distribute the ballots, Zelaya fired the chief of the armed forces, Gen. Romeo Vásquez, and the defense minister, the head of the army and the air force resigned in protest. The country’s Supreme Court voted unanimously that Vásquez be reinstated.

Tuesday last week the Honduran Congress, led by members of his own party, passed a law preventing the holding of referendums or plebiscites 180 days before or after general elections.

The Honduran Congress, led by members of his own party, named a commission to investigate Zelaya. The Commission found (my translation: If you quote it, please credit me and link to this post)

Zelaya acted against the mandates of legal and electoral laws, the Public Ministry, the National Congress, the Attorney General, and other institutions of the State, which had declared the poll illegal

On Thursday (h/t GoV) the Attorney General requested that Congress impeach Zelaya

The position of the Honduran Congress, the Supreme Court, and the attorney general is that the Constitution is to be strictly adhered to.

This is why Zelaya was removed from power: all branches of government and the country’s institutions recognized that he had broken the law.

Again, the military – by placing him in an airplane to Costa Rica early Sunday morning before he carried through the unlawful poll – acted in compliance with the Supreme Court and the Honduran Congress.

Honduras is fighting back by strictly following the constitution. The Honduran Congress met in emergency session yesterday and designated its president as the interim executive as stipulated in Honduran law. It also said that presidential elections set for November will go forward. The Supreme Court later said that the military acted on its orders. It also said that when Mr. Zelaya realized that he was going to be prosecuted for his illegal behavior, he agreed to an offer to resign in exchange for safe passage out of the country. Mr. Zelaya denies it.

Many Hondurans are going to be celebrating Mr. Zelaya’s foreign excursion. Street protests against his heavy-handed tactics had already begun last week. On Friday a large number of military reservists took their turn. “We won’t go backwards,” one sign said. “We want to live in peace, freedom and development.”

Besides opposition from the Congress, the Supreme Court, the electoral tribunal and the attorney general, the president had also become persona non grata with the Catholic Church and numerous evangelical church leaders. On Thursday evening his own party in Congress sponsored a resolution to investigate whether he is mentally unfit to remain in office.

And,

Former Argentine Ambassador to the U.N. Emilio Cárdenas told me on Saturday that he was concerned that “the OAS under Insulza has not taken seriously the so-called ‘democratic charter.’ It seems to believe that only military ‘coups’ can challenge democracy. The truth is that democracy can be challenged from within, as the experiences of Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and now Honduras, prove.” A less-kind interpretation of Mr. Insulza’s judgment is that he doesn’t mind the Chávez-style coup.

The struggle against chavismo has never been about left-right politics. It is about defending the independence of institutions that keep presidents from becoming dictators. This crisis clearly delineates the problem. In failing to come to the aid of checks and balances, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Insulza expose their true colors.

what is happening in Honduras may be an example of a coup that is not only legal, but mandatory

because, in Honduras’s case, the military has been endowed with a role in maintaining democratic governance; this time their task was to delivery Zelaya safely out of office and into the airplane to Costa Rica.

governments in the region may reject military ousters much more easily than, say, the civilian demonstrations that forced democratically elected leaders to resign earlier this decade in Argentina and Bolivia

the U.S. is not demanding that deposed President Manuel Zelaya be restored to office.

She also said the military coup has not triggered an automatic cutoff of U.S. aid to Honduras.

Clinton told reporters at the State Department that a delegation from the Organization of American States will be heading to Honduras as early as Tuesday “to begin working with the parties” on the restoration of constitutional order.

Whatever that means. The fact remains that the Honduran government and the institutions remained intact – only Zelaya was ousted.

Related reading:Donald Sensing writes on the role of the Honduran military:

…in Honduras, going all the way back to the 1840s, battalion commanders had not only a military-command responsibility, but a civilian law-enforcement responsibility. They were closely equivalent to American sheriffs in many regards. Because of their ordinary roots, battalion commanders, officers and their soldiers were much less “classed” than elsewhere in Latin America. There never formed a significant rift between the people and the military.

Though attenuated nowadays from days of old, the Honduran army has long had a traditional role as keeper, and sometimes guardian, of civil order and has been viewed by the people as such.
…

What the Honduran army did last week in shoving Zelaya, a would-be puppet of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, out of office was not a coup by even the wildest imagination. It was Zelaya who was trying to mount a coup, by using an unconstitutional referendum (with ballots printed in Venezuela!) to justify remaining in office as long as he wanted. No one in government, including his own party, supported Zelaya.

In fact, the Honduran Supreme Court actually ordered the army to remove him, a perfectly sensible development because of the historical role of Honduras’ military in civil order.

If the Obama administration had stopped to consider Honduran history and culture (or had the State Dept. paused even to consult its own experts, it would not (one supposes) have been so quick on the trigger. But instead, it practiced “ready-fire-aim,” though without the aim, even too late.

Thank you so much for your clear article. We are praying hard over here and trying to get the truth out as quickly as possible!!! GO HONDURANS! WE SUPPORT YOU HERE IN THE USA!!!! I am very proud of both the leaders and the people for demonstrating true democracy and people-centred leadership!

First of all my congratulations to Fausta for the incredible work. I’ve been all day stuck to the blog.

Despite I don’t like the ways (military and CentroAmérica together, mmmm, really looks like a coup), I think hondurans and only hondurans must resolve this problem. The rest of the world (I mean Obama and enchanted-by-Obama Europe), specially left wing, only see the military, and don’t remember some days ago hondurans were in the streets claiming for Zelaya stopping what he was doing.

I think the best thing is to call for new elections swiftly, and bring back Zelaya to Tegucigalpa. Let Hondurans speak.

Thanks, Fausta. I’m disappointed in Mexico’s reaction to the coup (for lack of a better word), but it’s not unexpected. Condemnation of any forced removal of an elected leader, regardless of circumstances, has been the norm for Latin American chancelleries.

There is no coup in Honduras. In a coup, the military takes over the country, destroying the constitutional order and revoking the Constitution. This is NOT the case in Honduras. The presidents of the world who condemn us do not care about Honduras or democracy. Obama, I hope, is only trying to be careful, but I really think the man needs to send a commission to evaluate the situation first-hand. We want to be heard. We are not the ones who are destroying the city, it is those who follow the monster we used to have. We can prove Zelaya was attempting to change the Constitution, and we all obey the Constitution before we obey men. That is the way we live, and if anyone has a problem with that, or wants to live under the burden of a tyrant, then pay a flight to Cuba or Venezuela and see it for yourself.

I’m a Honduran living in my Country and would like to give you my opinion believing that represents no less than the 85% of the population. What you call a “coup” wasn’t a coup. Military forces just followed instructions given by our Supreme Court. The Ex President Zelaya is the most corrupted president we ever had, he believe he is the law, therfore he was voilating the law multiple times and in multiple ways. Our Constitution stablishes that “if the president acts against the law, the Supreme Court should remove him in order to respect our Constitution and The Democracy”. We are in peace, and peace, democracy and respect to our Constitution is what we are defending. We are NOT COMUNIST, we DON’T WANT TO HAVE THE KIND OF GOVERMENT OF VENEZUELA OR CUBA, and have all the rights given by LAW to DEFEND our Democracy….This is what we have done, this is what we are doing…

Fausta, another great post, your the best…my dad has been doing business in Honduras for 45 years, he is a former “company” man (and Brigadista) and just last week was in Tegu with our family friend, the new Canciller, Dr. Enrique Ortez Colindres, who had railed against Zelaya, Patty Rodas, Jimenez, etc. for years!!!!

It is ironic how people who are Zelaya’s opposition talk about defending the constitution and doing what is right for the country. Micheletti has violated the constitution as well, for example, the constitution states that the head of the congress can’t run for presindent, and guess what? Micheletti didn’t care and ran for president, luckily he didn’t win. Other congressmen have violated the constitution as many times as they wanted…. now they are speaking up in its favor…
Honduras’ political class, the supreme court, the buisiness elite and the congress are all against Zelaya, and that is why this time, although he was breaking the law, they wouldn’t let him get away with it. Zelaya ruled for the poor, he increased the minimum wage and have cut a lot of benefits for the wealthy class, and of course, gained a lot of powerful enemies. The powerful enemies of Mel control the Media and tell the people and the international community what they want. CNN and other channels that were informing what was going on were blocked… and nobody in Honduras sais a word… Zelaya’s followers have been kidnapped and nothing is known of their whereabouts… Journalists that were on Mel’s side are missing. Lots of strange things are going on… we don’t know if this is the beggining of something worse yet to come.

His supporters breaking in and taking the ballots to distribute? Well then. Even if the “election” did have the initial support of the law, then at that point, the ballots were tainted beyond recovery.

Bribing the poor with money stolen from the wealthy and the middle class in order to buy votes may be “democratic” but it does not lead to freedom or to prosperity. It leads to poverty and war. The Chavista movement is pure cannibalism.

Hi Fausta! Thank´s for this blog! Finally someones gives the RIGHT information about everything that is happening in Honduras. We feel desperate watching the rejection of the International Community… they have to open their eyes.
Our constitution is different from the constitutions of other countrys, we don´t have a written process at the constitution in which says how can you get rid of a President who is doing what he wants even all the other powers of states and all the citizens want something different. The reporter CNN sendend to Honduras, Kruskaia, is being asisted and getting wrong information of the people who works for CHANNEL 8 (a channel Mel Zelaya took for the use of the government while he was in the power) Leyla Banegas who is the wife of Elvin Sandoval, Corresponsal of CNN and very close to Raul Valladares. CNN also receives information of their ex corresponsal Walter Fajardo, who quit CNN to work as an image assesor for Mel Zelaya. That´s why they get all the information twisted and they are causing a big problem in our country. We, the people of Honduras are actually very happy because we don´t have that man in the power.. he caused so much damage to our democracy… we are finally getting REAL DEMOCRACY with this period of transition. Please informe CNN of this relation their reporters have with the people who used to work for Zelaya´s goverment. I don´t know how to contact them directly!
Thankyou in advance! THE PEOPLE IN HONDURAS WILL APRECIATE ANY EFFORT TO LET THE WORLD KNOW THE REALITY OF OUR COUNTRY!

Thank you Fausta and all of you for this article and your comments. Honduras is going trough a very rough patch. But we are fighting to get back our rights to the people. Zelaya was only Chavez poppet and a shame for our people. WE ARE NOT GONNA GIVE ON THIS! WE DO NOT WANT MANUEL ZELAYA BACK!

Gerardo in his haste to bolster the Zelaya position has confused public employees that cannot run for office with elected officials that are already in office. The former may not run for President while the latter can. I reread the 1982 Constitution and unless I have gone blind there is no restriction on the Speaker from running as a candidate. This issue is also moot as Roberto Micheletti was next in the line of succession to become President.

I LIVE IN WA. STATE. I’M IN FULL AGREEMENT THAT ZELAYA (MEL) WAS OUSTED. WEARE A POOR COUNTRY, BUT WE ARE NOT DUMB OR IGNORANT, TO THE POINT THAT WE WILL PERMIT CHAVEZ TO DO THE SAME THAT HE DID WITH BOLIVIA AND THE OTHER PUPPET SOCIALIST STATES. I HAVE NO PROBLEM THAT THE US NOT TAKE A STAND IN OUR FAVOR. HOWEVER IF OBAMA CAN NOT OFFER A HELPING HAND TO A PEOPLE THAT DO NOT SUPPORT A COMMUNIST SOCALIST STATE, HE SHOULD REMAIN QUIET. HIS STAND ON THIS IS VERY DISAPPOINTING FROM A DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY. I CAN NOT BELIEVE THA PRESIDENT OBAMA FINDS HIMSELF IN FAVOR OF CHAVEZ BY SUPPORTING HIS PUPPET, ZELAYA. WE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN A PROUD DEMOCRATIC AND SOVERIGN COUNTRY WHO HAS CONSIDER ITSELF A FRIEND OF THE US. WE WILL HOWEVER NOT STAND BY WITH ARE ARMS CROSSED WHILE THE WORLD SUPPORTS THE SCOUNDREL, MEL ZELAYA WITHOUT DEFENDING OURSELVES.

Well just want to give you my opinion but how come half of the population of Honduras is against Mel.he didn’t have right to impose something that’s illegal. We just want to be hear maybes with these new president we have that right; but we didn’t have a coup in anytime

Fausta, thank you for the amazing information and timeline of what has occurred. My prayers and support are 100% with the people of Honduras. Obama does not represent my feelings and I am outraged and sickened by his condemnation of a constitutional ouster of the Zelaya. Of course, I expect no less of a Marxist who most likely admires what Chavez has “accomplished”.

@J #22 Our President Rodriguez Zapatero in Spain does exactly the same. In fact, he tries to sell us he’s like an european-Obama. No strong words for Ahmadinejad, Castro, Chavez and any other dictators, as long as they are fanatic muslim or left-winged. Weak, stupid.

By the way, I just realised that I was a little misinformed when I wrote my #7, since there will be elections in November and the new president will take over in January 2010. If honduran army doesn’t meddle in, I think we cannot call this a coup.

Bad – very bad. This is a coup no matter how much you want to dress it up. I suspect their will be a lot of violence and the right-wing so called interim puppet will clamp down on peoples rights. Their will be some shooting and the people will suffer. This coup will not work.

Received this brief, well noted commentary by a Honduran woman, written the afternoon of 29 June. All very true.

THE CURRENT SITUATION IN HONDURAS
Today at 12:29pm
1. The event this morning should be taken as an arrest against a Honduran citizen, Manuel Zelaya, who broke the constitutional Honduran law in multiple occasions over the last few days.

2. This SHOULD NOT be taken as a Coup d’état.

3. The vast majority of Hondurans firmly oppose Manuel Zelaya and are in favor of his arrest.

4. The current news being portrayed in international networks appear to be heavily tilted toward a contrarian view of most Hondurans.

5. The majority of Hondurans are not in favor of Manual Zelaya and are extremely proud of our congress and military for their stance in favor of democracy and peace.

6. The events happening today were caused by an attempt by Manuel Zelaya to manipulate our country and its constitution to fulfill his ultimate goal of remaining in power indefinitely.

7. The world should be proud of Honduras as we are the first Latin-American country to stand against a tyrannical leader who has tried to topple democracy and peace in our country.

8. Declarations made by Hugo Chavez should be discredited immediately. He should, as President Obama said, allow Hondurans to solve this issue through open communication following LEGAL processes.

9. It is NOT ONLY in the interest of Honduras and its citizens that democracy prevails (supported by the events today and Manuel Zelaya’s arrest) but also in the interest of the UNITED STATES that no other countries align with Hugo Chavez (and his puppets) to build his empire against democracy and peace.

10. In case Hugo Chavez tries to use military force in Honduras, we hope and pray we can count on the United States to stand along side Honduras in the fight against tyranny and oppression.

I think this was a PR disaster for the constitutionalists by giving Zelaya’s the heave ho by running him out of town. Putting him on a plane was just “bad form.” It has given his apologists and stooges a window by which to criticize the rule of law in Honduras and puts the attention on their intervention, not his repeated tries to circumvent the constitution.

I was chatting today in Yahoo chat with an honduran girl living in Barcelona (Spain). She supports Zelaya and told me their parents have been always “liberal” (Liberal Party is Zelaya’s party and “liberal” in spanish means the same as “libertarian” in the USA). I told her that obviously we haven’t the same idea of liberalism (=libertarianism) and how can a liberal (=libertarian support a left-wing dictator as Chavez. She answered me that liberalism is something you feel inside and she will support Zelaya against all odds. I answered her she deserve living with Castro brothers in Cuba without internert and without freedom.

Thank you for this blog! I am so disappointed in the way this has been taken out of context when all we did was stand against a person who did not have the best interests for Honduras at heart. It is amazing that nobody heard about this before?! We’ve been waiting so long for the other state powers to act, I had lost hope at some point that they might actually remove him from power. The danger was that he might resist and there be bloodshed, which is inexcusable in any case. I do agree that sending him to Costa Rica was not the best thinking there, but at least he was not harmed.
I only hope that our country has the same right to clear the charges laid against us in front of the international community, just as he is doing right now.

nuestromundo@cnn.com <<< this is CNN’s email if you are willing to complain the injustice that is being made… it is not fair that other nations put us hondurans under Their terms while defending a president which has only attempted against Honduras’ peace. I feel even more enraged with the constant lies that various media have been spreading.. and among them CNN by getting all wrong information for various people which, of course, are on Mel’s side… WE HONDURANS .. don’t want him back, and strongly refuse his “excuses” which actually are elaborated LIES to all the international entities. I hope people starts listening to WHAT HONDURAN PEOPLE REALLY WANT!

i agree with the government. i believe the rest of the world would not have a any problems with whats going on if they were to have a election at this point. the problem here is the other person has been elected by the congress and not the people. that would be fine if he was interm while they were holding a election within 25days of his interm. i dont believe Zayla at all. but then venezuela and nicaragua couldnt say anything if this happened

When America’s recently elected regime made a point publicly cozying up to cagasstro, chavez, danny boy ortega, and others of that sort, wasn’t that a signal to ‘come ahead’?

Haven’t recent events in Honduras indicated that it was?

Surprise, surprise. When you kiss up to tyrants, apologize for ‘American arrogance, and swap spit in the shower with mass murderers such as hermanos cagasstro, how else can the world’s aspiring tyrants interperet these behaviors but as a signal to proceed?

It is inconceivable, that all these countries want to push their agenda on a sovereign and democratic nation, Honduras has the right to take the actions they did to protect their sovereignty and freedoms and to reject communism, which is what Chavez is trying to impose.
It is also unbelievable that the US would go along with such proclaim of the OAS as if Honduras was part of the US or any other nation, we are certainly living the last days of Freedom as we knew it.
The New World Order is at Hand.

I do not care what is his name- neither the color of his politics nor the names of his friends… all I want is a fair chance for me, my children, my family to lead a dignified life; a life free of poverty and prejudice.

A country where if I behave as a good person and a loyal citizen there will be no obstacles to a productive and satisfying future.

No matter where we are (physically &/or philosophically) may we and all those that are precious to us have a peaceful weekend.

President Obama gave his pronouncement prematurely. I don’t believe that he would knowingly defend Zelaya if he knew the truth. Obama should have treated this like he did with Iran. He should have Withheld his judgment until he got all the facts surrounding Zelaya’s ousting.
Shame on him!

I am a former expat of Honduras. I am so PROUD of their action, I was going back until this day, when my job there cancelled due to no tourists, maybe ferry, maybe fuel, maybe food –
By the same token, I am so ashamed of my own government for it’s lack of support to a small, poor country being overrun/ruled by the likes of Chavez and the Castros – Mr. Obama needs to review history and LISTEN to the PEOPLE – I have been to Cuba, I was in Haiti during an overthrow // we will be having Hondurans on boats to our shores ….. Mr O does not acknowledge or support his own Constitution, having come to elected without being “born in the USA”.
I did think Ms Clinton was brighter than to react as she has.
I was going to Honduras to work since I have been laid off/unemployed more than a year in my OWN COUNTRY and am losing my home …… 40+ years I have worked, been willing to work. No jobs para mi aqui.